


Gauntlets and Games

by floralNINJAchan



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Gauntlets and Greaves, Modern AU, casual gaming plot, casual roller derby plot, real world AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:05:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9917123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralNINJAchan/pseuds/floralNINJAchan
Summary: Whenever Yang and her friends would go out to the roller rink, she would always play on the "Grimm-vasion" arcade game. She held the number one spot every day since she made the high score. That is, until she got "sniped" by someone with the mocking save name, YIN. Frustrated, she attempts to forget about her defeat by playing a different kind of game. However, she discovers an adversary, MercSteel69, that she just can't seem to beat.Can Yang ever on-up YIN and the mystery player? Or are the two rivals one in the same?





	1. Sore Loser

Yang didn't want to say she was getting stuck in a rat race, but she was getting a little too repetitive with her routine. It was after school and she was, like usual, with her friends at the Dust Till Dawn Roller Rink. Yang's kid sister, Ruby, had just finished with her classes and tagged along. It was the same as always; they'd get there, rent some skates, order a pizza from concessions, and spend the next few hours goofing off until Ruby and Yang's dad called asking where they were. 

It was a solid routine. Considering that going out to the movies was getting too expensive, and the mall only had two "good" stores, the rink was the best place for the girls to just relax. Ruby and Weiss would race around the rink, and constantly try to request songs they knew the other hated skating to. Blake would nibble on pizza at the concessions area while reading one of her books. And Yang would skate on-and-off, but mainly focused on making yet another high score on the worn out arcade game in the corner of the building. It was an older game that she had played before as a kid, using one of those plug-and-play controllers you find at discount stores. Her dad and uncle used to play it all the time when they were her age and in school. That was one of the memories the two would share to Yang about her mother... Maybe that's why Yang didn't mind repeatedly coming to the rink after school. 

The connection made her feel... well, connected, at least somewhat, to her mother. But she knew that "feeling" was just wishful thinking. And that any nostalgia she could have ever possibly found from the game was long deleted from whenever the machine would restart itself. 

Yang put two quarters into "Grimm-vasion" and smirked at the familiar tune of the game beginning. Almost mindlessly, she made her way through the levels with ease. Stage after stage, she never missed a single Grimm as she soon reached the final boss. She mashed the button until the Grimm exploded in a pixely, cheesy, 80's style. It was one of the most satisfying yet awkward to watch moment in classic game history (at least in her opinion). Relaxing her hands and cracking her knuckles, Yang got ready to punch in her signature "YNG" (Yang) to add another to the almost endless list of the same three letters. 

Except... that wasn't the case. 

Yang's eyes went wide as she gazed upon the screen. Her position on the leader board was no longer 1st. She was 2nd. The highest score was now held by some douchebag called "YIN".

"Hey, gramps!" the fiery blonde called to the owner who was in his usual spot behind the concessions counter. "You see anyone messing with the game machine?"

He nodded.

"You know who it was?"

He shook his head.

"When did anyone besides us and the usual suspects come in?" she inquired. The only other people who would have come by the rink knew how passionate Yang could get when it came to her competitive nature. They wouldn't dare mess with her high score. 

In response, the old man pointed to a poster on the nearby wall. "Pumpkin Pete's Roller Derby Rumble," it read. Yang recognized it. She had competed the year before when they had the rumble in Vacuo. She helped her team make it to the second to last bracket, and would have gone farther, if it hadn't been for the Atlas team. 

The dates on the poster were set for two weeks from the upcoming weekend. Which meant that the son of a bitch who messed with her score was probably an out-of-towner staking out the rink. They didn't realize just what hell they unleashed upon themselves.

Before swearing revenge, Yang spent almost her full paycheck from her part time job on attempting to beat them. It took her friends and sister fifteen minutes to convince her that it was a lost cause. And an extra five to pull Yang away from the machine without her ripping out the joystick. 

"Easy, sis!" Ruby grunted as she held on for dear life to one of her sister's arms. "It's just a game!"

"Yeah, Yang. You get waaaaay too competitive! Just let it go!" Weiss lectured as she let Blake and Ruby take over restraining the blonde. She looked over and apologized to the owner who just nodded at them. "And besides, you've got other things to worry about besides some silly arcade game."

Yang took a deep breath and let herself realize how dumb she was being getting mad at seemingly nothing. Ruby and Blake slowly let go of her arms as they felt her muscles relax.

"It's getting kinda late...," Blake said as she motioned to the clock above the shoe lockers. "See you guys here; same time tomorrow?" 

"Can't," Yang sighed. "Our uncle is coming back tonight and we are going spend all of tomorrow, like always, cleaning up the tornado he's gonna cause..." She could already envision the empty bottles scattered across their home, and the blankets matted up on the sofa from where he'd most likely crash. 

The girls all gathered their belongings and heading out the exit door. They waved goodbye to the owner, who waved back, and were all almost out of the building. Yangs pace slowed and she fell behind her friends. Doubling back, she rushed over to the arcade game and unplugged it. Plugging it back in, she took pride in knowing that at least she could erase the mystery player's existence until she could find out who they were. And so she could fill it up with more of her high scores. She may be the older sibling, but even she could have her Ruby-esque childish moments. 

\---

When Ruby and Yang got to their house, their uncle's piece of shit car was already in their driveway. It was almost as old looking as their uncle... at least that's what they liked to joke. It was actually the same car he'd been driving since high school. Hell, he and their dad kept insisting that the backseat of that car is where Yang's mother Raven went into labor with her. She refused to be known as a "backseat baby", especially in more ways than one. So Yang made an effort to dent it up a little anytime her uncle Qrow foolishly parks it in front of they house (and not several blocks away). Before using her house key to unlock the front door, she made a nice little scratch on the hood of the car. 

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby exclaimed as she rushed into the house. Her older sister threw her keys in a bowl labeled "key jail" on a table next to the entrance. The two made their way into the living room to see their uncle already drinking and laughing with their dad. The younger sister dashed and leapt onto her uncle, almost spilling his drink.

"Easy there, kiddo," Qrow chuckled as he hugged his niece. He looked over to Yang. She gave him a half-hearted wave and he gave a nod in reply.

"Where did you go this time?" Ruby cheerfully inquired. 

"The island of Nunya. None ya business, that is." His younger niece playfully punched him in the shoulder, as he and Taiyang chuckled at the "dad joke". 

Yang just rolled her eyes. She passed the living room and made her way over to the flight of stairs leading to the second story. She was stopped short by a familiar sound of a throat clearing.

"Come on, bombshell. Just visit for a minute or two," Tai said as he pat a spot on the couch. He gave her a classic dad-look. "It's not to often we see Qrow when it's NOT an ungodly hour."

"Oh, he'll be up then and will be just as noisy. Besides, it's a school night. Gotta work on a project," she said as she slowly made her way up the stairs. Ruby sulkily did the same after a few more minutes of chewing her uncle's ear off.

\---

Yang hadn't totally lied. She was doing homework... for like an hour. It wasn't that she wasn't smart, or was lazy; the Xiao Long's go hard or go home with everything they do. It just didn't hurt that Yang had two smart friends in her grade that didn't mind helping her with her homework. An hour before class started. And considering half the kids in her classes that weren't AP didn't even bother to do the work, she was technically overachieving.

Having knocked out the chapter reading for her AP literature class (that she is still bitching at Blake about for forcing her to sign up for), Yang decided to plant herself in front of her desktop, and plug in her LC controller. She wasn't afraid to admit she was a basic master-race bitch of sorts. She mainly just gamed console whenever she had people over. But PC was easier to game on with Weiss still having a strict curfew. 

By no means were her friends the best gamers. Weiss was a total n00b and Blake was super casual, so Yang's biggest help and best competition was her sister. And even then, Ruby still would log off mid-game because their dad would nag her to finish her homework. Most nights Yang would just randomly challenge other users to singles matches on the one game she's never been beaten at (other than what used to be her undefeated reign of Grimm-vasion); Gods of Remnant.

No one stood a chance against her when she was fighting solo. Once, when she had her wisdom teeth removed, she ranked seventh in the world. All it took was a whole lot of pain meds, being pissed off from the slight pain kicking in once the meds wore off, and the sugar high from several tubs of ice cream. 

Whenever she played with her friends, she'd be sure to hold back to avoid a team kill. So after the upset earlier in the day, Yang was so very happy none of her friends were online. She needed to get in a good win to cleanse the taste of defeat. 

She loaded up the game and connected to the "Challenger Hub" to see who was available in her area to brawl (she had to switch her settings to "local" after her game kept crashing from too many international fight requests). Most of the usual suspects were online; some of her other friends from school, kids from other schools she either loved or had a friendly rivalry with. There were some unfamiliar users in the mix, one standing out in particular; MercSteel69. Yang had seen him on leader boards before, but had never thought much of him at the time. After changing her settings, she never thought of taking him on. He was out of her local range, therefore off her radar.

So it was interesting to see him so close to her home turf.

Yang smirked as she sent the user a challenge request. Almost instantly, the screen started counting down to begin the round. And it started out great for her. She even won the first round.

\---

But little did Yang know that it was just a false sense of security. See, MercSteel69 had been aware of Yang (aka YANGBANG) for quite some time. During her reign on a drug high, some of her competitors were live streaming. Her audio had been filled with profanity, really bad puns, and gals in dialog for spoonfuls of ice cream. After that display of lovely ladylike-ness, he'd just sat back and watched the craziness unfold. MercSteel69 didn't bother challenging her, and at one point didn't get a chance. Until he just so happened to be on a trip out of town, and just so happened to be bored out of his mind in his hotel room. Nothing good on lame local TV stations, not wanting to bother with the research he was supposed to be doing; what else better to do than to play a video game. And low and behold, what semi-infamous gamer should just do happen to be in the area, allowing him to be able to finally challenge her long after the hype? Why, YANGBANG herself just lonelily waiting for a challenger, and better yet, being the one to send him a request. Of course, he humbly excepted.

And he was going to utterly destroy her.

Round one was a test drive. Round two was a warning. The final round was the execution. He was lucky they didn't have their mics on, because little Miss YANGBANG was probably damning him to hell as the words WINNER graced his laptop's screen. Typing into the in-game chat;

MercSteel69: better luck next time <3

-and then closed his laptop. He hopped up onto the hotel bed and felt something under him, poking his back. Confused, he felt under himself to find a bra.

"Merc!" a woman's voice called from the hotel bathroom. His 'friend' Emerald popped her head out from behind the door, most likely only wearing a towel. "Have you seen my-" Here eyes grew wide seeing what was in his hand. She walked out (yep, it was a towel), snatched the item from him in one hand, and used the other to smack him upside the head. She speed walked back to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. Mercury Black let out a chuckle as he more comfortably laid down on the bed. He crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. He took in the moments of "pissing off ladies" and savored every second of it. 

Mercury couldn't wait till the approaching event where he'd get the chance to see even more aggressive women. Whether it was him ticking them off or just them trying to kill each other? It was anyone's guess. But what he did know is that he was going to enjoy playing that arcade game again while his 'friends' destroyed their competition at the roller derby. 

It was going to be epic.


	2. A Beer and a Chat

It was petty and childish but Yang was upset over her defeat. Seriously, who just messages "better luck next time" with a heart emoji and then logs off. It was... aggravating. It just wasn't her day. 

She tossed her PC controller onto her desk in annoyance and made her way over to her bed. Falling face first into her sheets, Yang's exasperated groaning was muffled by a cotton polyester blend. She flipped onto her back and just stared up at the ceiling. She's hung up posters there of things that made her "happy" for moments just like these; a vintage Grimm-vasion game poster, her autographed Achieve Men poster, a picture of her dream motorcycle that she was saving up for for over a year and a half.

However, they weren't cheering her up like they usually would. Yang's mind trailed and she found herself reaching for something she had ticked away. Something she hid in between her mattress and the box spring. No, it wasn't anything "dirty", but rather something she didn't want her dad to know she had a copy of.

She pulled it out of its hiding place and looked at a worn down photo she "borrowed" from one of her dad's old albums. In it we're younger versions of Tai and Qrow, as well as her late step-mom Summer. Yang smiled as the familiar faces. They looked so happy and young. She thought of her step-mom's cookies, and her taking Yang to her first day of school... 

Her eyes trailed over to the much less familiar and only other woman in the photo; Raven Branwen, Yang's mother. Her smile faded as she looked at the woman she never really knew. Closing her eyes, she tried to envision her mom and what she would look like now. But all she could see was her uncle. They were twins after all... and he had actually bothered to be in her life. 

But you know what they say about speaking, or in this case thinking, of the devil. There was a loud knock on Yang's door before it opened without her giving permission. Behind it, her uncle peered inside. 

"Hey, kiddo. You alright?" Qrow asked as he slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. "Heard the wailing and either thought you were possessed or upset." He tossed her something that was in his hand.

"Beer?" Yang said looking as the can of brew in somewhat disbelief. "Won't dad kill you for giving me this? And besides it's not even the good stuff."

"Hey. You're allowed to drink it if it's with an adult (sort of). Plus you're dad's asleep and what he doesn't know won't kill him. Ain't the first time you and I shared a cold one. Tai STILL won't let me live that one down," Qrow chuckled raspily. "And it's not my fault your dad only buys the cheapest beer in stock. Does the job though, not like he ever drinks it."

"Fair point," Yang popped open the can and took a chug. It tasted like how warm piss smelt but she didn't care. 

"So..." Her uncle sat down next to her on the bed. His eyes found their way to the old photo before Yang could hide it from sight. He smirked and snatched it up. "Damn, I got old. We must have been your age in this. I still had a 'baby face' and wore guy-liner back then. I honestly don't know if I got better or if I just got worse." He laughed which cause Yang to crack and smile, letting a small giggle loose. 

She gently but playfully took the photo back. "I look at it sometimes. Ya know, to see what mom looked like. This was the only picture of her I could find... no wedding photos or anything with dad. Or me. Just this."

"Makes sense... Raven was a little camera shy. Plus, I'm sure your dad told you she wasn't the 'marriage' type. No wedding, no photos. This one though," he tapped Raven's face on the picture, "this one was different. It was taken when we all got together after graduation. There was a big party at some guy's house that night. HUGE party. Everyone in our graduating class was there. So naturally, Raven had the bright idea of not going to that. Instead, we all went out to the roller rink like a bunch of losers and ate pizza. It was like nothing had changed from when we were still in high school. Just the same song and dance. Except this time we didn't have to worry about curfew or classes.

"We skate and ate and laughed until closing, and even after that we stayed out. Raven and Tai left together to only God knows where. Summer headed home before her parents got too worried. And I did what I always did, snuck a beer and waited for my sister to sneak back in. Except this time she didn't... and then a few weeks later," Qrow poked his niece on the nose, "you were raising all kinds of hell even as a fetus. And when you got big enough, you kicked like a mule."

Yang just listened quietly and nursed her drink. This was the most she's heard about her mom in a long while. When she'd turned thirteen and made a huge fuss about it, Tai had sat her down and given her a similar story to Qrow's. She always wished she knew more, but Yang knew her uncle and father took great care to only tell her as little as possible. They gave her just enough broad strokes to paint a basic picture of what her mother was like. It wasn't always "pretty" like the young woman in the photograph. But, it didn't have to be, because it was reality. Not every pretty face shows off what the inside holds. And on the inside, Raven wasn't connected to Tai as she should have been. 

She had Yang. She left. She never came back. And she was only found when she wanted to, no matter how hard or long Yang tired to search. Or anyone for that matter.

Qrow watched as his niece started chugging the beer. "Easy now. Can't be getting you too buzzed," he slowly tried to take the can away from Yang's death grip. She wasn't having it. Finally, after leaving him with an empty can, let go. He shrugged and let out a sigh. "If that's how it's gonna be... are you buzzed enough to tell me what's up then, firecracker?"

"Ask me after I've had another one of these," Yang smirked while crossing her arms. Qrow just raised one of his eyebrows. "Pushing my luck?" she asked as her posture slumped forward.

"Yep."

Yang let out a deep sigh. She stood up and walked over to the small TV. Turning it on, she switched the settings and tossed one of her Nintendo 64 controllers. "Up for some ol' school, ol' school?" she asked. 

"Challenge excepted. But you've got to vent when you play, got it?" he grasped the controller and got his 'game face' on.

"Fine, but I get to choose the game. And I'll vent... only if you beat me."

\---

Of course, Qrow's years of wasted time playing video games (being the original owner of that Nintendo 64 they were playing), gave him the upper hand. But just barely. He also was the one who taught his elder niece everything she knew about gaming. Defeated, Yang vented about what was getting her goat; the arcade machine defeat, followed by the Gods of Remnant thing... and how him beating her wasn't helping her mood any. 

He knew his niece was a sore loser. The apple didn't fall too far from the tree in that regard. It almost felt like he was back in the day, shooting the breeze with his sister. But he didn't feel it was best to tell Yang that. She was her father's daughter, in the sense of her being much more like Tai than like Raven. And to Qrow, that was a good thing. 

"You win some, you lose some. All you can do is make sure to kick this person's ass next time," Qrow said as he placed him controller next to the console. He got up from his seat and made his way to the door. "And don't harp too much on it. In the end, it's just a game. All that matters is you still like playing when all is said and done. But... if you do get heated," he looked back at her before exiting, forming a his hand into a fist and holding it up for her to see. "Just remember you've got two old men who can swing a mean punch on your side. No body messes with my nieces. And as for Tai, you know he'd do anything for you girls."

"And you two are the reason we're still single," Yang laughed as she watched her uncle leave the room. Despite her not wanting to see him this visit, he managed to lighten her mood. Yang had a habit of forgetting that being around her uncle wasn't always a reminder of the mother who left her behind. Instead, he was the drunken, dirty old man she could sneak a beer with and play video games till the ungodliest of hours. 

Not bothering to change into pajamas, Yang crashed out on her bed. She smothered her face into her pillow. She quickly fell asleep, the theme tune of the game's main menu playing in the background; lulling her to sleep. 

\---

"Why are you still up?" Emerald asked her 'friend' as she put in her earrings. 

"I could ask you the same thing, Em. I mean you're the one with skating practice tomorrow," Mercury said looking up from one of the girlie mags he stole from Emerald's bag. He was halfway through the 'What Type of Shoe are You?' quiz. "By the way, don't go to Harper Street. With that paint job and those knock off heels, you'll get beat to a pulp by the ladies on that corner. They're fierce as hell. Better try somewhere near the cheap motels," he chucked as he watched her reapply her lipstick. 

She in turn picked up the closest thing lying around on the floor and threw it at his head. One of her derby skates hit him square in the gut; missing its initial target, but still giving him a good amount of pain. "Very funny, asshole. For your information, I'm meeting with Cinder. She wanted to hit a bar where she knows some of the older skaters hang out. We're going to see if we can 'witness' some 'happy accidents' before getting a little tipsy. You know how much she likes her fire water."

"True... just make sure you've got your fake I.D. this time. Remember how embarrassing it was to wash off that big, black X? It took you two days for the mark of shame to fade away," Mercury remarked as he finished the quiz. He was a Jeffrey Campbell Lita. 

Emerald just flipped him off as she grabbed her purse. "I'll be back in a few, so don't wait up. Remember, you're supposed to head to the rink early to scope out the competition."

"Yeah, yeah," he waved her off. The hotel door opened and then slowly shut, leaving the young man all to himself. Feeling antsy, he turned on the TV. The same old shit from earlier was playing... He settled on the "classic" movie channel which was playing some western film. There were guns and fights so it was better than nothing. Lounging back on the bed, Mercury thought back to his victory. He smirked as he looked over to his laptop. He was so tempted to see if YANGBANG replied back to his taunt, but he was too lazy to power back on his device. So, he just savored in the past champion's defeat as he watched TV. He took that feeling with him as he fell asleep with the white noise of gunshots ringing in his dreams.


	3. Quarter in the Corner, Next Game's Mine

Mercury had been at the Dust Till Dawn Roller Rink since it opened, and was bored out of his mind! There is only so much a guy can take just watching women in tight fitting shorts skate in an oval for what felt like forever. At first, it's nice to see them slam into each other and fall on their asses. But after two hours of it... it got old fast. And considering the competitors he was with didn't have their practice for another hour or so, Mercury just planted himself in front of the old arcade game. He'd played it the other day when he was at the first practice his 'team' had attended. He had even beat, what seemed to be the only other player's, high score. When he started playing it this morning, however, all the memory had been erased. Didn't matter to him, though. Just meant Mercury could fill it with his own scores. And that's exactly what he did.

Over the course of the morning, Mercury had played the game probably ten times, defeating every single level. His fastest play-through was under ten minutes (only because the game's transition scenes were sooooo slooooooow). It was almost getting boring to play.

 

...that is, until someone placed a quarter in the corner of the game's screen. He felt a presence behind him, and in the corner of his eye he saw the hand that placed the coin. Turning around his head for a second, Mercury saw his current "type"; tall, blonde, and built like a brick shithouse. He raised an eyebrow and smirked before allowing his character to die. 

"Be my guest," he said as he stepped aside. The blonde just rolled her eyes and took back her quarter, putting it into the coin slot. 

Mercury watched her play as she dominated each level with ease. It was both relaxing and aggravating watching another person play a game. There was that feeling of enjoyment of seeing the enemies go down, but also the urge to yell at the player of what they should have done. But with her, the latter feeling wasn't as prevalent. 

She finished the game around the same runtime as Mercury had done. Her confident smile and the fire in her eyes subtlety told him that this was probably one of her best play-throughs. However, that smile faded quickly, and her eyes became wide as saucers, as the score screen appeared. The blonde whipped around and grabbed Merc by the collar of his shirt, practically ripping it. 

"You!" she exclaimed with a different kind of fire burning in her lilac eyes, almost giving them a red tint. 

"Um... me?" he said confused.

"You're YIN?!" the blonde yelled into Merc's face. Being a good few inches taller than her, he looked down, smirked, then looked back up. Dealing with an angry woman was well worth it considering he had a nice mountain view. 

"And if I am?" He cocked an eyebrow. 

The blonde seemed too heated to have words. She only glared more intently and tightened her grip. It wasn't until an almost annoyingly cute voice chimed in from behind them.

"Yang!" Ruby called out as she rushed over to her sister and the boy she was about to assault. Giving Yang the puppy dog eyes, Ruby tugged on her sister's arm in an attempt to get her to let go. "Are you really gonna start a brawl over a video game?"

"Yeah, blondie," Mercury cooed. "You wanna go?"

It took Yang a few moments to 'calm down'. Her expression changed from angry to a wicked smirk. "Yeah," she replied. "But not with fist fights (though just to be clear, I would whoop your ass), instead we can have a little race." Letting go with one hand, she pointed over towards the skating rink. "There's a few minutes between each of the practice sessions. What do ya say? First one to complete five laps wins." 

"I don't know... I'd hate to beat you. Again." Mercury was having way more fun than he should've messing with this chick. She didn't get mad this time, however. Her confident expression hadn't faltered, and she finally let go of his shirt and placed her hands on her hips. 

"What size skate do you wear? I'll cover rental," Yang stated as she walked over towards the skate counter.

"No need. I've got my own. Just let me grab them from the car," Mercury said as gave the blonde a wink. She rolled her eyes as he walked out the exit door. 

Braving the crowded parking lot, Mercury made it to the rental car they had got for this 'adventure'. Unlocking it and hopping into the backseat, he opened up a case that was sitting in the floorboard. Using up the whole backseat, he proped himself up against the closed door, and began taking off his prosthetic legs. The main reason he never skated was because getting on his specialty prosthetics (that had skates attached) were a pain to deal with. He also didn't want people to know just how he was able to be so aerodynamic. Legs with flesh weigh you down compared to light weight metals and plastics. It gave him an edge, and it never made him "handicapped" (or not that lame-ass phrase handicapable, if anyone called him that he would have his fist introduced to their face). 

Having his wheels on, he skated through the parking lot and into the rink. When he entered, Mercury was met with the blonde called Yang wearing her own personal skates and gear. "You're making me feel naked," Mercury scoffed. "Don't tell me you're a derby girl... and here I thought this would be a fair fight."

"I WAS one, past tense, if that makes you feel better," she skated over to him getting very close. Leaning forward she whispered in his ear, "I got banned from competing for playing a little too rough." She pulled back. "So be prepared to get dominated, YIN," she said smugly as she gave him a wink.

"It's Mercury Black, actually. Miss...?"

"Yang. Yang Xiao Long."

"I liked 'blondie' better..." he chuckled as he skated towards the rink. 

It had cleared out from the last practice lap, which being all flirty and goofing off, he missed watching. Although he had seen the competitor that he was told to look out for, Pyrrha Nikos, skate so he wasn't too worried about getting yelled at. The rink was clear for the next five or so minutes, so now was their best chance to have a friendly little race.

The two made their way onto the floor and rolled to the starting position. Ruby, who oversaw/heard the whole thing, dashed out onto the rink floor and stood in between the two a little ways in front. 

"Alright! I wanna see a good clean race! No biting, scratching, bashing, blah blah blah blah..." Ruby's voice was drowned out and ignored ("Sorry, baby sis") as the two racers talked amongst themselves.

"Let's make this interesting," Mercury began. "Why don't we make a little bet? It's no fun winning if you don't get a prize."

"I'm listening... what's your wager?" Yang asked as she got into a starting position. 

"When I win-"

"IF," Yang snapped back.

"Alright, blondie. IF I win, you and I go on a date. And if you win-"

"WHEN I win, you have to buy my friends, sister, and myself pizza across the street. None for you. You have to watch us eat. And look like a totally whipped dog," Yang said glaring playfully at Mercury.

"That's just cruel," he laughed, getting into position himself.

"... AND NO SPITTING ON THE TRACK TO TRY AND SLIP SOMEONE UP!" Ruby finished her rules and put her arms up in the arm. The other two got focused. "Racers ready? GO!" Ruby threw her arms down and the two skaters were off like a shot. 

Some of the derby skaters crowded around as the two finished their first lap. The two were pretty much neck and neck for the longest time. Ruby and Yang's other friends who were there cheered her on as she started to gain a bit of a lead.

It wasn't until the completion of lap four that Mercury decided to play a little dirty. Tapping the side of his "knees", something in his legs shifted, causing him to pick up speed drastically. He turned around, skating backwards, and watched as he out sped his opponent; savoring every second of her bewildered and shocked expression as he finished his final lap. He crossed the finish and Yang soon did as well.

"Bullshit!" Yang exclaimed as she skated up to him and got in his face yet again. "How did you beat me? I was winning!"

"Keyword: was. I gave you a handicap so i would be able to see you get utterly crusted by defeat. And I was right about a hunch I had... you're so beautiful when you're a loser. And I already know you're hot when you're angry," Mercury chuckled as he skated out of the rink.

"You ass!" Yang skated after him. 

"Say what you will, but just know you've got a date with my fine ass. I'll meet you here tomorrow in the parking lot at 7 o'clock. Try not to dress too much like a slut or church mouse, ok blondie?" Mercury said condescendingly as he made his exit. 

Pyrrha and Nora, one of her teammates, had to hold Yang back from chasing after him, and from possibly killing him. 

\---

As he skated to his car to change out his legs, Mercury realized that he couldn't go back in there and "do his job". He also bumped into his two lady friends, Cindy and Emerald. Unlike last night, minty-fresh wasn't sporting her war paint and killer heels. Cinder, however, looked flawless as always. Both were dressed in their derby gear.

"Why aren't you inside? And why are you wearing skates?" Emerald questioned him. 

"...I beat one of the fastest skaters I've ever raced. Good news is I won, better news is I won a date, even greater news is she's banned from competing," Merc listed off as he hopped into the backseat of the rental and changed out his legs. 

"Ah, so Miss Xiao Long from last year... interesting," Cinder stated with a sly smirk. "I take it you observed the practices before our's?"

"Sure did, boss lady. And honestly, you've got nothing to fear. The one you were worried about tends to have strong legs and ankles, but a bad habit of bumping her front wheels with her heels if you close in on her too much. Get close enough and she'll trip and fall on her face. I mean, she doesn't know that she will. But that's just because no one has ever been neck in neck with the Girl Wonder." 

"Good," Cinder faced Emerald, "Let's head inside and start. The others will catch up."

"Sure thing," Em agreed.

"Hey!" Mercury caught their attention before they began walking away. "How did the happy accident pub crawl go?"

Cinder chuckled. "Let's just say... we won't have to worry about some of the lovely ladies from Indigo Derby. They got a little something extra in their drinks, and it wasn't that pesky flunitrazepam. It's best that you don't know."

"Got it," he quickly said. "Have fun, ladies. Give 'em hell."

"Always do," Cinder said as the two walked off and into the rink.


	4. Dressed for Success

"Hey, dad!" Yang called for her father whom she noticed was passing by her room. He popped his head in the door way to see his two girls; Ruby sitting on the bed looking miserable and the other in front of her full body mirror. She turned around to face him wearing something he never thought he would see again, at least in this lifetime. "Does this make me look like a slut?"

"First off," he said as he entered the room, clearing his throat, "that's probably something you should never, ever ask me. And secondly, where did you find that?"

She cocked her hips, showing off her look; skinny jeans with rips in the knees, crop top with a faded band logo, and a biker jacket that had seen far better days. "I found it in a pile of stuff in the attic," she replied as she did a 180 turn. "I thought it would be perfect on my date tonight." 

"Well, you're not wrong... that getup does have some dating experience," Tai nervously chuckled as he sat down next to Ruby.

"Perfect my butt!" the younger sister exclaimed. "She's been through, like, twenty zillion outfits! I told her the first one was fine but she just kept layering and changing and digging through old trunks and even raiding your closet for stuff!" Ruby exasperatedly rolled over on the bed and into one of Yang's pillows. She wanted the sweet release of death... or just to scream into the pillow. 

"That would explain the mess," her father commented at the mountains of clothes piled high on the floor and on her desk. "Honestly, sweetie. You look great. I'm sure your date will think so too. Speaking of this date..."

Uh oh, Yang internally screams. Here it comes.

"Do I know this person?"

"...no?"

"You sound unsure."

"She also hesitated," Ruby said as she came up for air. "And yeah. We don't know him. Yang lost a bet and now she has to go on a date. We had to stop her from breaking his legs." She went back down into Pillow Town.

Yang avoided her father's eye contact as she blushed slightly. He know how heated she could get, and how she could be a sore loser at times. 

"So... what did he beat you at?" Tai asked, a little too cheerfully than he should have.

"...an arcade game. And a race."

"Running or skating?" her father wanted clarification. 

"...skating."

"Damn. That's gotta burn... Hey, baby bud," he nudged his younger daughter. "How about you go sober up your uncle and have him take you on a date tonight. I heard he needed to make a stop by the gun range to meet with some buddies tonight." With that, Ruby shot up like a rocket. Getting out of girlie outfit deciding and going to shoot lead with her uncle? There was no better escape.

When the youngest left the room, Tai patted the now empty spot in the bed for Yang to take a seat. She did so and sunk into the bed slightly. "You're uncle told me about the talk you two had the other night."

"Traitor," she said under her breath with a laugh. 

"You know Qrow doesn't tattle. I had to grill him for over an hour, and even with that it took a crap ton of good quality beer... I just wanted to know you were ok." He looked over to his daughter, glancing up and down. "You probably figured this out already, but that used to belong to your mother."

"I figured... I mean with the raven embroidered on the back," Yang chuckled as she popped the jackets collar. "It was just collecting dust so I thought I'd give it a wear."

"It was the only thing she left behind when she... well... left," Tai gave the 'happiest' expression he could as he placed a hand in Yang's knee. "I was planning on giving it to you at graduation. As a little gift before heading off to college... but, you seem to be growing up fast and," he gave her knee a hard pat before hopping off the bed, "you're probably going to outgrow it by then."

"Wha- did you just make a fat joke?!" Yang exclaimed astonished. 

"I'm dad and I did," he said as he ducked from a projectile pillow flying at him. The two of them laughed like hyenas as he made his escape. She thought about chasing him down and giving him a critique on his "dad bod", but having a moment with him really brightened her evening. She fell back into the bed and laid there for a few minutes. 

She could smell the musk of the jacket, and oddly enough, the slight smell of lavender... Yang closed her eyes and imagined a bike being revved up. She could practically hear it, and could feel the hum of the engine in her heart. 

She sat up and looked at the time; 6:45. If she took the back roads and went a little bit over the speed limit, she could make it on time. Then again... she could be fashionably late. 

\---

Mercury stood outside the rental car in the busy roller rink parking lot. Emerald and Cinder were inside practicing, and made arrangements with a "friend" to get them back to the hotel. So, he had the whole night long to himself, and with a fiery blonde. It was ten minutes after the meet up time. He almost thought she wasn't going to show. That is until a roar of a motorcycle engine drew louder before a kickass bike screeched to a halt in front of him. Taking off her helmet, Miss Yang Xiao Long ruffled her hair before throwing it at Merc. 

"What? No spare?" he commented as he put it on. 

"I don't need it. No helmet laws in this area," she smirked. "Now hop on before I change my mind, and leave your sorry ass."

Humoring her, Mercury hopped on the bike and started to wrap his arms around her waist.

"Anything above the navel or below the hips, and I'm gonna throw you off going 80 in traffic, got it?" she warned as she revved up the engine.

"Duly noted, blondie. By the way, I had a lovely little restaurant in mind that's by my hotel-"

"No restaurants. No hotels. You may have won, but I get the final say."

And with that she drove off.


	5. It's All Fun and Games

Yang pulled her bike, Bumblebee, into the parking lot of the least romantic place she could think of; Amity Arcade. She parked in between a minivan and Jeep Cherokee. She smirked as she hopped off her bike. 

"Really?" Mercury scoffed. 

"It's got a pizza buffet, free refills on drinks, and loads of witnesses," she stated as she took her helmet from Mercury and placed it under her arm. "Plus there has to be at least one game here I can beat you at..."

"Ah! So that's your strategy! Alright, I'll bite." The two walked over to the entrance, and Merc opened the door for for her, like the gentleman no one raised him to be. The "bouncer" at the door stamped their hands, and the two went up to the register for tokens and to get a table.

They dumped off their stuff at the table and went over to the first game that was available. Lucky for Yang, that game was skee ball and two lanes were open right next to each other. Taking a few tokens, she set up each skee ball lane for three games each. 

"First to win two out of three picks the next game," Yang started the rules as she took her first shot. It went right into the upper left 100pt hole. She turned to look at him with a smirk. "And I have a feeling that's going to be me." 

With a sly grin and a roll of his eyes, Mercury picked up one of his skee balls and made a shot. It was 100pt in his upper left hole; perfectly matching his opponent's shot. Yang's smirk faded and her expression became a bit more serious. 

The two threw ball after ball down the lane, angling them so that they would reach the desired holes. It was neck-and-neck the whole way through. However, even though the scores were insanely close, Mercury chalked up yet another victory. The crushed expression his 'date' was sporting unintentionally told him that this was probably one of the games she was best at. 

"Well," Mercury said as he took some tokens from Yang. "Seeing as I won, and I'm playing by YOUR rules here, I get to choose the next game. What will it be, what WILL it be?" He tapped his chin before having a faux-epiphany. "Oh! I know. How about that one~" He pointed at a game in the far corner of the arcane, Remnant Rhythm Domination. It was banished to the darkest end of the arcade considering only huge weeb-nerds and ten year olds with no rhythm ever played it. So, of course, Mercury just had to pick it. He was light on his 'feet' after all. 

Yang groaned as the two walked over to the machine. She hated rhythm games like that. It made her feel like she was doing some kind of line-dance drunk at a bad techno club... But at least she had some "dance" experience so that she could attempt to beat him. However, she had a sinking feeling her date spent way too much time at arcades (or the aforementioned techno clubs). It was a sad feeling; both for pitying him as well as the fact that he was most likely going to kick her ass a lot as the evening progressed. 

Mercury put in three tokens for each side of the game, and selected Verses Mode. He had a feeling that if he did Battle Mode it would end far too quickly. Wanting to go "easy" on her for the first round, he gave himself a handicap (in the game) by letting her pick the song and the difficulty level. 

Yang scrolled though the songs in the short amount of time she had, and ended up choosing one she was pretty sure she'd played before against her sister. She was also pretty sure she'd won too. But, considering Ruby was only graceful and rhythmic when it came to sports and not to dance, Yang began to seriously doubt her abilities. She wasn't going to let the smirking asshole know that though. She did her best to keep a cool and level head as the game began. 

Luckily for Yang, it was a BASIC song on the lower of the settings. Giving her an extra handicap, Mercury picked DIFFICULT. It was a moderately upbeat song so it didn't seem too challenging for the two. As the arrows appeared on the screen, they both kept up with the steps and combos. It was like that for the next two songs before the game ended. It was a good game... for Mercury. And considering he let Yang pick all the songs and he chose the difficulty higher than hers, he still didn't go too easy on her.

So, for the next game he decided to "let her win". But he wasn't going to make it too obvious. It was his turn to pick the songs for each round, and he wasn't holding back. As the first round began, he could tell Yang was having a little a bit of trouble keeping up. She was mostly getting GOODs and OKs. So, on top of his PERFECTs, Mercury let a few misses slip though. 

By the final round of the game, Yang was becoming a little sluggish in her steps. She wasn't accustomed to working out in leather... She could feel herself starting to sweat, which was NOT something she felt like doing. Fake date or not, Yang wasn't about to drown in her own fluids. She'd learned that wasn't fun after drinking one time with a bunch of Blake's friends. Never challenge a sun-kissed tank, a "Brit", a hydrophobe with a surprisingly high alcohol tolerance, and a literal party animal to a friendly drinking game. It will only end in bra-lessness, getting grounded for two months, and waking up in a pool of your own vomit. So basically a fun ol' time. 

Once the game ended and the third and final game was about to cue itself up, Yang slipped off her mother's jacket. She draped it over the handrail behind her before taking a scrunchy out from the inner pocket. She pulled up her long blonde hair into a messy ponytail. 

Mercury couldn't help but cock an eyebrow. He'd let her win that last game, so now it was time to completely decimate his date. Again. For some reason, he found her very attractive when she was brutally defeated. As well as when she got a little heated. 

"Taking your clothes off already? I haven't even bought you dinner first," Mercury quipped as he selected the first song of the round. He got a swift punch in the arm, almost pushing him off the dance pad. 

"Just shut up and dance, asshole." Yang kept her eyes focused on the screen, that same fire from the derby race sparking. She wasn't going down without a fight, and both of them decided not to hold back any punches. 

Mercury had picked a three star song, and had chosen both players to be at DIFFICULT. At first, he could tell she was fumbling over her own feet trying to keep up with the steps. He'd already memorized this song at this difficulty so he had the pleasure of just watching her struggle. But, after a while, she got into the rhythm and was doing pretty good. However, the round was already clearly won by Mercury due to her poor start. 

Being the gentleman he was, Mercury let Yang pick the next song, just to mix things up a bit for the final game. She chose some poppy, upbeat "j-pop" fluff that she was oddly good at. It somehow suited her with all the combos, and the rhythm changes and delays. She seemed to be more in her element. Her steps and expression seemed to flow and shine with confidence. It was almost distracting bright. So much so that Merc's rhythm was going a little off. In turn, making the victor of this round Yang. 

Now with a tie, and with the two slightly out of breath, they decided to alternate with who got to pick which song. Considering she won the last round, Mercury let Yang get to choose two out of three. He still didn't know if that was a mistake or not. 

It continued to be neck and neck. The only reason they were differing in score was because they started trying to trip the other up; elbow nudging, missing an arrow to try and kick the other in the feet, and even jokingly grabbing the other by the shirt. At one point, Yang almost had to jump off the pad in fear Mercury was going to yank her shirt a little too much. She didn't feel like flashing the tiny children who had started gathering around the RRD machine. Especially considering she was wearing her Yoko Littner style bra, she wasn't sure they could handle that much "heat". 

As the last round ended, and the scores from all the rounds danced upon the screen, it was clear who won. It took a moment before the victor realized they had beat the other. Catching their breath, the winner half-heartedly punched the loser in the arm. 

"Finally beat you, ya jerk," Yang huffed as her face glowed from victory and sweat. 

"There's still a few more games, blonde. And it's still early. Hope about I get us some victory pizza? If I can fatten you up, I can slow you down," Merc smirked as he hopped off his pad and sauntered over to their table. With a roll of her eyes, Yang followed. What was it with the men in her life and fat jokes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guess what my two fav arcade games are? ;)
> 
> RRD is in reference to my BlakeSun fanfic, Not Just "One of The Guys". 
> 
> Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Until Someone Gets Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. I made this chapter extra long. Hope y'all enjoy

Mercury only wished hotel doors didn't have the stupid resistant door closers on them. The blinding lights from the hallway illuminated the room just enough for him to see a very sinister Cinder having waited up for him in the darkness. He'd hoped that they would have had another girls' night, but in hindsight that was wishful thinking. Em was a lightweight and they never hit the clubs (as well as the competition) two nights in a row. It would be too conspicuous if a pair of lovely out of towners just so happened to be around when more competitors of the derby rumble suddenly "drop out". 

The door almost silently closed behind him as he turned on the main lights. Stepping forward, Mercury noticed that Em wasn't in the room. It was just him and Cinder. Normally he wouldn't mind being alone with a girl in a hotel room. But Cinder wasn't a girl. He was pretty sure she was some kind of half-demon spawn come to make people's lives a living hell. 

...then again, maybe Mercury was reading too many comic books. If anything Cinder was more like a mean girl from an '80s film; cruel, unforgiving, and looking hot as hell as she puts you "in your place". 

He walked towards her only to go past towards the room's mini fridge. He pulled out one of the beers their buddy Roman had brought them, and cracked it. Merc was about to drink it before a well manicured hand snatched it away. He went from looking at his now empty hand to directly into Cinder's eyes. 

"So, how did it go?" she inquired as she dropped the full can straight into the trash bin behind her. That was the sign of a serious talk. 

"It went very casual. We went to an arcade, played a few games, ate a slightly undercooked pizza, and she drove me back here. And I even got this," Mercury fished out a torn piece of a paper napkin out of his back pocket. Ten digits were scrolled across the shred of cloth-like paper. He handed it over to the girl in front of him, and she gently snatched it. Cinder gave it a look over before pocketing it herself. 

"You'll get this back after you run a little errand for me..." she said as stood up and walked past him to the hotel dresser. Opening up the top drawer, she pulled out a pair of women's skates. They weren't her or Em'a customs pairs, but rather a customs gold and scarlet pair. "Miss Nikos misplaced them after practice. I was hoping you could 'fix' them for her... and make it very subtle. Wouldn't want her catching it before our race."

Oh yeah, Mercury thought. The tournament starts tomorrow. He took them from Cinder and then grabbed his personal tool kit off the nightstand. Doing some slight unscrewing and some tinkering, Mercury made it so that the skates were strong enough at first. However, with enough pressure and speed, the front two wheels would give way. "Finished."

"Good. Now go put them back where Emerald found them."

"That being?" He gave Cinder a look.

"Back at the rink. In Miss Nikos' locker." She just crossed her legs and cocked her head. "Roman can drop you off. So I'd suggest not getting caught."

Merc groaned as he got off the bed. He shoved the skates and a few tools into an empty duffle before zipping it and throwing it over his shoulder. "Got it, boss. I'll be back before midnight. I'm 'fraid if I spend too much time with that ass I might turn into a pumpkin head," he scoffed before heading to the hotel parking lot. 

Sitting atop the hood of his 1969 Dodge Charger, Roman lit his cigar and peered up at the approaching teen. Putting away his lighter, he stood up and gave his smoke a puff. "In the back, kicks," he snapped as he slipped into the driver's seat. Merc got into the back and dumped his duffle in the seat next to him. There were no seat belts.

\---

Yang pulled up into the driveway to find her uncle's car there. It wasn't a good sign when Qrow got home before she did. That would mean Tai was waiting up the way dad's usually do. Yang could even see the living room light still on.

She hopped off her bike, opened the front door, and just like she anticipated, her father was sitting on the sofa. Just waiting. 

"So. How was it?" Tai asked, arms crossed. 

"It was... fine. We got pizza at the arcade, and then I dropped him off at his hotel. He was kind of a jerk? I don't know. It was just a one time thing," Yang replied as she took off the jacket and folded it over her arm. "Don't think I'll see him again."

"Is that what you truly believe or what you believe I want to hear?" Tai said as he sat him straight. 

"Both." Yang sighed as she made her way over to the stairs. 

"Hey." Yang stopped and looked over at her father. "I trust you."

Yang couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Dad." And with that, she walked up the stairs, to spend the night remembering the surprisingly fun time she had had.

\---

A bumpy ride later, in which Mercury was dead certain Roman had purposefully made as many sharp turns as possible, the two arrived at the now vacant lot in front of the roller rink. All the lights were out in the building. The only illumination the two had as they sneaked across the parking lot was a flickering light in the middle of the lot and the lights above the rink's sign. Tools in hand, they slinked around the back to the side door. 

"Lock pick," Roman demanded.

"Hell no," Merc scoffed. "You're just the driver and look out! Cinder told me-"

"Do you want to risk getting caught and having Minty Fresh bailing you out of holding?"

"...screw you, man." He reluctantly handed over the lock pick. Roman got to work on the door until he heard a satisfying click. The door creaked open.

"After you, kicks."

\---

It was the afternoon at the derby and most all of the preliminary rounds had already gone underway. It was down to the final three teams to compete, and the last bracket before the race for first was between the Beacon Bombshells and The Haven Havocs. The third, the Atlas All-Stars, were sitting off to the side and waiting for the fight for second place to start. At least, that's how they saw it, being the champs two years running (or rather, skating). 

The Bombshells and Havocs slowly skated over to the starting line. A few familiar faces, and VIPs were lined up side by side; Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Coco Adel, just to name a few. And of course, Emerald and Cinder were in the mix of their team. They hadn't bothered to truly learn their names, however. Off to the side were some other recognizable individuals. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were off to the side at one of the tables cheering on their friends. 

Someone noticeably missing was Mercury.

...not that Yang even noticed. Nope. And she totally wasn't looking around every other minute for a glimpse of silver hair. However, it was odd not seeing him, considering he had been hanging out at the rink for every single practice. So it was puzzling as to why he wasn't there for the actual event.

The buzzer went off and so did the skaters. The girls sped down the track. Immediately, the Haven skaters were gunning for Pyrrha, but they couldn't quite keep up. As well as Beacon's pint sized powerhouse, Nora, was knocking down girls left and right. Cinder and Emerald sped forward, using their team as a shield against the powerhouse, only to be met by Coco. She locked on and slammed into Em who pushed right back, allowing Cinder to slip on by and catch up to Pyrrha. 

The crowd roared and cheered as they saw the two aces of each team neck-and-neck, which had never been seen before. The two girls turned a corner. Pyrrha's ankle buckled slightly for an instant. Cinder smiled. 

Taking this opportunity, she powered past Pyrrha, and with fiery eyes took the lead. The redheaded Bombshell started to catch up, until she felt her ankle buckle once more. A slight sense of panic overcame her face, but quickly was replaced with one of determination. However, showing no signs of worry wouldn't do her any good. It wouldn't change the fact that her bad habit of hitting the back of her heel with her other skate was causing the unknown damage done to her skates. And it wouldn't stop what was about to happen as she neared the final lap.

\---

"Ya know, kid," Roman slurred as he smacked Mercury hard on the back. "You're not completely unbearable."

"Huh, tell that to Em," he said as he cracked open another beer. The two of them had been drinking since they had gotten back from their night job. So basically four in the morning. It was now well after noon. 

"Nah, kicks. She's got Cinder's stiletto so far up her ass that she'd probably bitch about you even if Cinder herself said you were a joy to behold." Roman took a swig of his drink before taking a puff from his cigar. "So how do you think the match is going? Think our ladies have won by now?" They both struggled to read the alarm clock on the hotel room nightstand. 

"I'd say give them another... ten minutes? The skates were damaged enough so that they could last a round or two. And seeing as since they drugged up some of the competition before hand, there weren't too many rounds before their's. With luck, Nikos's fat feet will do most of the work and she'll be eating floor soon."

"Good, good. Because I've got money on our girls."

"...you're gambling on a women's roller derby?" Merc's eyebrow raised. 

"Hey, considering Beacon and Atlas were the fan favorites to win, I'm gonna be making a fuck-ton of cash on Haven winning," he chuckled as he rubbed his fingers together. 

"Well, I expect a cut, old man. I'm the one technically making you money." Merc paused. "Does Cinder know?"

"Hell no."

"Good, then we don't need to give her a cut." 

The two burst out laughing.

"Now ya got it, kid!" Roman exclaimed as the two clanked their beers together.

\---

The final lap of the race was something that no one watching saw coming, and one they wouldn't forget... Pyrrha was almost caught up with Cinder as their teammates blocked and tackled one another behind them. It was almost a close race at first. Almost.

Cinder, out of her peripheral vision could see Pyrrha one second, and then the next, she was no more. A loud gasp came from the audience as they watched Beacon's ace tumble over and hit the floor hard. An echoing thud sounded. 

As Cinder crossed the finish, winning the match for her team, the ref forgot to wave the checkered flag. Pyrrha's teammates skated over to her side, as well as her good friend Jaune and a standby medic. The fallen skater hugged her leg as the medic gave her a look over. It wasn't looking good.

The panic of the audience grew larger as they placed her onto a stretcher and called an ambulance. The EMTs showed up within minutes and rushed her to the hospital. Jaune called Pyrrha's parents and went with her in the ambulance. He was group texting his friends every update as it happened. 

It wasn't just a small injury. Pyrrha had both Achilles' tendons torn, as well as a broken rib from how she had fallen. It was looking very grim...

With all the commotion taking place, the event organizers talked with the owner of the rink and announced that the finals would take place the following afternoon, and for everyone to go home. Instead, most of the skaters and crowd went to the hospital. The lobby soon became filled with concerned friends. Pyrrha's parents were in tears as they thanked the crowd of faces for caring so much for their daughter. Jaune, Nora, and Nora's boyfriend Ren all sat the closest to the Nikos family. Yang and her friends were next to them. They played cards as they awaited more news. 

"Got any sevens?" Ruby asked Nora.

"Go fish," she replied. Ruby groaned as she picked up yet another card, now having the largest hand of the group.

"I hate this game..."

"I've got UNO in my car," Jaune piped up, however sounding a little distant.

"That game's even worse." Ruby slumped into her seat. "You're turn Weiss."

Unapologetically, Weiss asked Ruby for her sevens. "Darn it!" she exclaimed, causing the group to let out a collective laugh. It lightened the mood but for a second. 

As they continued to play, Yang and Blake, who were off to the side (too many players makes a quick game), made their own entertainment. Blake, like always, had a book in hand. Yang just stared at her phone. She didn't know what to do... who to call? Text? Maybe play one of those addictive app games? Yang was never good with stuff like this. When she found out her mom left her and her dad, she didn't know how to feel. When the only real mother she'd ever known died, she didn't know how to react. Now one of her friends was in intensive care and she just felt... useless, numb, and just needing something or someone to take her out of that feeling. Yang was normally the life of the party and the strong older sister who fought through the emotion. She was the one who was strong because she wanted to be, but also because she felt she had to be. Her name did mean sunny dragon. She had to always be fierce, always be a light, always had to be a support for her family and friends. But at the current moment... she just wanted a rest from all that.

Her phone's screen illuminated and vibrated in her hand. It was a notification from an unknown number. Yang gave it a read.

"Hey Blake," she called over to her friend softly.

"Yeah?" she replied, not even looking up from her book. 

"Can you and Weiss take Ruby home tonight? I've got to go." Yang stood up and started taking out the keys to her bike.

"Where are you going?" That made Blake look up, giving her friend a worried expression.

"...probably somewhere that's going to end up being a big mistake." Before her friend could respond, she was already out the hospital doors.

\---

Mercury laid flat on his stomach atop the hotel bed. Roman had went out for a booze run, leaving Merc all alone. The ginger was taking his sweet time getting back, which was killing Merc's buzz. If he didn't hurry back soon, a hangover was bound to set in. And that was no good, especially if Em stormed in with her loud, annoying voice.

His phone let out a single loud buzz from across the room. Rolling onto his back, Mercury did his best to sit up and check the notification. He was hoping it was Roman saying he was on his way back and needed help carrying up all of the booze. Instead, it was from Cinder. No "good job" or "the plan worked and its all thanks to you!" All that was on the screen was the ten digits from the napkin. Merc smirked as he pressed on the number. He decided it would be better to text instead of call the blondie from the night before. He drunkenly typed:

Hey blondie. Wanna grab a drink? ;)

Then he typed in the name of the hotel followed with the room number. Cinder would probably not like what he was doing. But Cinder wasn't here.

Mercury was drunk and bored and maybe kinda liked Yang? He didn't know if it was lust or just his desire to get rid of any pesky guilt he would never admit he possibly felt. And considering he knew that Yang was friends with the girl he possibly crippled, he just wanted to get all kinds of fucked up with someone who he knew would hate him if she ever found out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I finished this up while stuck on a plane heading home from RTX. Had a blast and hope to go again next year!
> 
> Thank you for reading and hope you liked it <3
> 
> Your Floralist of Ninjas,  
> Reba The Mermaid


	7. Vodka and Vendetta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Updating so soon? What is this? A miracle? lol
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy

Yang found herself in the parking lot of the hotel she had dropped off her “date” the night before. She knew it was probably a mistake. But she wasn’t a stranger to making those… Taking a deep breath and looking at the room number again, Yang walked into the hotel lobby and b-lined for the elevators. She pushed the button for the floor and silently traveled upwards. This short window gave up the dreaded opportunity to think clearly a chance to take hold. The usual thoughts came into her head; “Dad’s gonna kill me when he finds out”, “what will my friends think if they find out where I’m headed”. 

However, she didn’t come up with any answers before the metal doors slid open. Yang trailed down the hall until she reached the door matching the room number. Getting it over with, she formed a full fist and banged on the door. On the other side of the door, a huge thud could be heard. 

It took a few seconds before the door finally peaked open. A familiar set of silver eyes stared back into her own, then went down and then back up again. The door fully opened and a clearly tipsy Mercury greeted in his guest. 

“You’re drunk,” Yang bluntly stated as she walked into the room. She didn’t know what she was honestly expecting. There were beer cans crunched up all over the floor, what looked like all the clothes from the suitcases hanging on the room’s TV and across chairs, and, oddly in Yang’s eyes, the contents of a small tool kit dangerously scattered across the bed. 

“So?” Merc slurred as he shut the door behind her and leaned up again the wall. “I’m guessing you came here to do the same.” He paused. “Speaking of which…” He pulled out his phone and typed up a quick message to Roman:

Me: Leave the booze and go 

Pumpkin Head: WTF? 

Me: I have a girl over. I’ll pay you back and extra if you fuck off and keep Cindy and Em away from the room tonight

Me: *Cinder

Pumpkin Head: …

Pumpkin Head: Fine. But you owe me extra, kid. One favor and an extra $50. My silence does not come cheap.

Pumpkin Head: And neither does the booze.

With that taken care of, Merc trailed the wall over to where Yang had moved to. She was weirdly enough, cleaning up the room; folding some shirts, congregating the empty cans into the tiny hotel trash can as best she could, and gathering up the tools off of the bed. “Didn’t peg you as the ‘housekeeper’ type, blondie.” 

“Nah. I just know how to handle drunks. You,” she pointed at Mercury, “sit your ass down.” She took the ‘complementary’ bottle of water (taking off the price tag) and chucked it at Merc’s face. “Now drink this.” He was able to catch the bottle due to his not-quite immobilized motor skills taking over.

“I invited you over for a drink, not for you to kill my buzz,” he scoffed, yet still did as he was told.

“If I’m going to drink, then I need someone somewhat sober. And boy, you are plastered. Anyway, where is the booze?” She picked up one of the cans she was cleaning up. Turning it upside-down dramatically, she demonstrated how there was no ‘drink’ of which he had offered. 

“I’ve… got a guy…” There was a knock at the door. “And speak of the devil.” Merc ran best he could to the room’s entrance. He opened the door just enough to throw his wallet into the hall and snatch the large bottle of vodka out of the ‘man behind the door’s hand. “Hope you like Zodiac.”

“I don’t like potato liquor.”

“Fine, more for me then!” He was about to open the bottle before she snatched it out of his hand and replaced it with the water.

“I said I don’t like it, not that I won’t drink it,” she smirked as she took one of the hotel cups and poured herself a glass (because she was classy enough not to drink out of the damn bottle). Mercury just shrugged and thrust himself onto the bed face first. Yang sat across from him in in the desk chair. “So,” she started after she took a sip from her glass, “Why me?”

“Huh?” he muffled through the mattress. 

“I mean… There’s enough bras here for at least three ladies (I assume) so why invite me over?” Yang asked taking a larger swig. Merc looked around the room, just now noticing the now folded bras on the hotel dresser. He just rolled his eyes and chuckled. 

“Nah. They are two off-limits ladies. They’re both crazy and both would probably kill me in my sleep. Plus… they’re not as beautiful as you, gorgeous.” He gave her a wink before his face fell back into the sheets. Yang got up and set down next to his upwards back and gave it a pat. 

“First off, I know I’m hot. That’s like one of the seven things I’ve got going for me right now. Secondly, you ain’t getting lucky tonight, buddy. And lastly, I saw whom I assume are your crazy ladies at the rink tonight and they are like… a seven and a nine so don’t be knocking your gal pals.” She smacked him on the back really hard. “I mean like… why? You’ve known me since two days ago, and all we did was measure metaphorical dicks. So am I just a vacation date or are you one of those idiots who think a long distance relationship can work for longer for a month and a half?” She finished her first glass, her voice wavering due to the burning in her throat, as she leaned forward towards his face to better hear his answer.

He turned his head to reply, Mercury’s face almost meeting Yang’s. He could smell the vodka on her breath and her slightly red checks. “Well… you know how to have fun. And you can take a joke… And…,” he avoided eye contact and mumbled his last remark, “you’re good at games-”

“I’m sorry. What was that?” Yang exclaimed. “I’m what now?”

“…you’re good at games, ok?” He inched up from his position, now being taller than Yang on the bed. “I know it’s not like ultra-rare for a girl to be good at games but I mean… you’re…” He paused. He didn’t know if he wanted to admit what he knew.

“I’m what?” She punched him in the arm a little too hard. 

“You’re YANGBANG.”

“…please don’t tell me-” her face went pail. “Oh GOD NO.” She fell back onto the bed. “You son of a bitch! You’re MercSteel69.” 

“Yep… to be fair, you lived up to your reputation,” Mercury tried to complement her into not utterly despising him. “But I mean… you’re a little rusty, since no one will play you and all. And I play like all the time so- HEY!” Yang hit him again, this time she was giggling. 

“Rematch!” she demanded. 

“No console and I only have a laptop.”

“Then let’s set a date. You, me, and a battle to the death!” She was clearly pumped. Mercury was learning that blondes were more fun when vodka was involved. “How long will you be in town?”

“Just until the derby is over.” He instantly regretted saying the word ‘derby’. Yang almost immediately got up and rushed to pour herself another glass. She had that look he used to see his dad have after a job, and right before he would- 

“I’m sorry about what happened to your friend,” Mercury lied through his teeth. “It’s a shame what happened…” He got up and inched close to Yang as she put down the bottle. “I heard about it from my friends,” he quickly added. 

“She’s still in the ER. I left before they said anything but I’m pretty sure…,” she started chocking up. “I’m pretty sure it’s some permanent damage. I mean she’s not gonna loose her leg or anything but still…”

The beer finally screwed over Merc’s mouth, “That’s not so bad.”

“Not so BAD?!” She punched him for real in the arm. “What the FUCK does that mean?! She’s probably gonna have a limp! She had athletic scholarships lined up that she’s definitely going to lose now! Her future is ruined all because she didn’t check her skates before the match!” Yang looked at the new glass and then put it down on the desk. “And I’m here drinking feeling sorry for myself because I can’t handle another person in my life getting hurt.” She crossed her arms and stared down at the floor. Merc could see the gears turning in her head.

“Hey,” he placed his hand on her shoulder only for her to jerk herself out of his grasp. “There’s nothing you could have done to stop it from happening… I mean, shit happens. Plus-” He stopped himself again. His lips were getting loose again.

“Plus what?” Yang asked. She seemed to turn pretty quickly into an angry drunk. “Finish that sentence.” Mercury remained silent. Not getting a reply, her eyes started looking around the room; towards the mess still left over, to the door, back to the bed, and back at him. She paced a little until something caught her eye. She walked over to where she had put down the tools and noticed something.

There were small gold and scarlet flakes of paint on one of the tools. Her eyes went wide. A small spark went off in her brain. She grasped the presumed evidence with a white knuckle and started towards the door. 

“Hey!” Mercury grabbed her by the arm to see what she had in hand. “Where are you going?!” 

“Let go, jackass!” She struggled to get out of his grasp, and gave him a kick in the shin. 

“Are you stealing my shit? Really?” Merc half chuckled as he tried to figure out what exactly her angle was, until he saw his screwdriver with paint stains. “Oh… oh! You think- oh wow.” He was laughing now. Merc tried thinking of a good excuse with his brain still somewhat swimming. 

“Then explain this? Pyrrha’s skates are custom. You’ve got some sketchy-ass tools in your room, and your ‘friends’ won a match because she got hurt! So please, explain!” Merc could see the redness of her eyes overtake the normal color of her violet. 

“Who even is Pyrrha?” he smoothly played dumb. “And you want to know why I have tools in my room? Hell, you wanna know why I didn’t give too much of a shit about your friend’s leg getting a little injury? Fine!” He pushed Yang backwards back onto the bed and slammed his right leg right next to her head. Leaning forward, he rolled up his pant leg, showing off his metal prosthetic. “See this? This is why. You wanna see the other one? Because I don’t mind showing off. Hell, I can strut around in my boxers if you want get a better view.”

“…Mercury, I-” He put his hand over her mouth and shushed Yang while shaking his head. 

“I don’t wanna hear it. I don’t give a shit, neither should you, blondie.” 

Yang pushed away his hand with her own. “Fine. I won’t. Now explain the paint.” 

“…welp. You got me there. But answer me this, what are you trying to prove? Do you honestly think anyone is gonna believe an under aged drunk girl with no actual evidence,” he took back the screwdriver and easily wiped off the pain flacks, “and do you think it will make much of a difference?” Yang did not reply. Her stare burned into his eyes. Merc looked away for a moment before looking back, almost sincerely. “Look, you’re a cool girl, Yang. I don’t want to see you get hurt. So take my advice and let it go. After tomorrow’s finals, you won’t see me or my ‘friends’ any time soon. With some PT I’m sure your friend will be just fine.” He took his foot off the bed and stepped back. Taking up Yang’s abandoned glass, he took a drink as she got up and dashed out of the room. 

“Great, Merc. Cinder’s gonna kill you…,” he told himself as he slumped to the floor. He kept on drinking, silently hoping he would pass out and avoid any more bullshit by drowning in his own vomit.

\---  
Yang felt sick to her stomach. She was hiding in the hotel lobby washroom, trying to sober up enough to ride her bike home. That would, of course, be her second dumb decision of the night. So, she took a few deep breaths and calmed down. There had to be option than drinking buzzed and getting pulled over, then going to holding and having her dad called (or worse, her crashing and ending up in a hospital bed next to Pyrrha). Flipping through her phone contacts, Yang found the one person she knew wouldn’t judge her for her getting tipsy and going alone to meet a guy. She would have to use some half-truths, so they wouldn’t go up and murder Mercury… 

She pushed a few buttons on her phone and waited for him to pick up…

“Hey, kid? What’s up?” Uncle Qrow picked up the phone on the third ring.

“Can you come pick me up?” Yang asked a little horse.

“From the hospital?”

“…I’ll text you the address.” She pulled her phone away from her ear and quick copy-pasted the address Merc had given her. “It’s about fifteen minutes away.”

“Alright I’ll be there in-” He paused. “Kiddo this is a hotel. Why are you at a hotel… where’s Ruby?”

“She’s with Blake and Weiss back at the hospital. Don’t worry.” Yang started to regret calling anyone.

Her uncle sighed on the other end of the line. “Why are YOU at a hotel alone? And why can’t you get yourself home? Do I need to-” His niece stopped him before he got angry. 

“I’m fine. Buzzed but fine. And I just need you to come get me, ok? I met a friend – NOTHING HAPPENED – and I got a little heated and they got pissed and so I left. Look, I called you so I wouldn’t get lectured by dad for this shit. You, dear uncle, have done waaaaaay worse than this in your lifetime. So can you please not play 20 questions and just pick me up? I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to…” There was silence. Then there was a small background sound of keys jingling.

“I’ll be there soon… where are you now?”

“Bathroom.”

“Good. Stay there until I call you.” And with that, he hung up the phone.

Surprisingly, Qrow called exactly nine minutes later. Yang sneaked out of the bathroom and speed walked out of the lobby. Out front was her uncle’s shitty beat-up car. 

“Get in,” Qrow called out. “Now.”

Like a shot, Yang hopped in the passenger’s seat. They pulled out of the parking lot in silence. No talking. No shitty ‘80s rock music playing with way too much base. Just the two of them quietly sitting in the car. Yang just wanted to go home. However, Qrow was driving the complete opposite direction.

\---

“So,” Qrow began as he poured something from his flask into his milkshake. “Your date turned out to be the jackass who kept beating you at video games, and also admitted to helping cheat at a race knowing that it would hurt your friend, the Nikos girl. And I can’t break his kneecaps for all this shit because he has none. Do I have all that right? Or did I miss something?”

Instead of heading home to just sleep off the craziness of the day, Qrow took Yang to a small ice cream shop on the edge of town. He had taken her there before when she was younger whenever he would visit. It was one of the only times in the past Yang remembered where she just spent one-on-one time with the old crow. Qrow would get a vanilla milkshake and mix in his liquor. He would buy Yang one of the specialty milkshakes (with extra sprinkles), and they would sit at the table in the far back of the shop. It was quiet and somewhat closed off from the rest of the tables. It was the perfect place to avoid wandering ears. So dear ol’ uncle could say shit and damn without poisoning the ears of the toddlers eating ice cream. 

“You pretty much got the jest of it… so what do I do?” Yang inquired as she stirred her vanilla bean S’mores ‘n’ Mores shake. 

“Well… if I was to be a responsible adult about it, I’d say if you have evidence – which you don’t – I would have taken it to some kind of authority. But we both know that I’m far from that. So what I’m gonna tell you is this, revenge isn’t the best or only answer. It is however,” he took a slurp of his shake, “the most fun. What’s this kid’s name again?”

“Mercury Black.” 

Qrow pulled out his phone and scrolled down until a wicked smile crept on his face. “Good news, kid. I’ve got a way for you to get even, and for the both of us to take home a little extra cash. But first, finish your milkshake. We need a good alibi and to cover up the vodka smell. …you’re gonna need to like chug done two more of these.” The two laughed as they enjoyed their desserts. With Qrow as her alibi and with him explaining his ‘master plan’, for the first time that night, Yang felt at ease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed!
> 
> You're Floralist of Ninjas,  
> Reba The Mermaid


	8. The “Calm”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another speedy update. Hope y'all enjoy!

A couple minutes after Yang had left, Mercury found himself with a half empty bottle of vodka and a ringing phone. He really didn’t feel like answering, but it was Roman calling so that meant one of two things; he was checking up to see if Merc got laid, or that he was warning him of Cinder coming back to the room. Picking up the phone, Mercury signed before speaking. 

“What do you want, Torchwick?” he groaned before taking a swig from the bottle. He had given up on the glass at this point.

“Well, I don’t want anything. At least not yet (don’t forget that favor you now owe me). No, I called to let you know that boss lady and minty fresh won’t be visiting the room tonight. So you and your lady friend can do whatever for however long you need,” Roman’s voice echoed around Merc’s head. 

“Oh yeah… she’s not here anymore. She left,” he bluntly stated as he felt the vodka burn his throat. 

“Ah, sorry to hear that, kid. But hey, at least you have the room to yourself tonight. Go crazy. You have pay-per-view, the internet, and alcohol. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“Wait… you’re not coming back?” Mercury sat on the bed and put the bottle on the floor and detached his prosthetics. 

“Hell no! I’m not gonna waste the rest of my night with a runt in a hotel room! I have my winnings from the betting pool, and I’m an adult. Use your imagination, kid. Anyways, don’t do anything too stupid. The ‘adult’ supervision may be away but that doesn’t mean the inmate should try and run the asylum. You’re the crazy punk in this analogy. So make sure you don’t start any fires, m’kay?”

He could tell Roman was half joking, however considering Mercury’s past misdemeanors, it wasn’t an unfair request. “Yeah, yeah. Cross my heart and hope to die. Thanks for the update, old timer. Don’t get arrested.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice. Later, kicks.” And with that Roman hung up, leaving Mercury alone with his wandering mind in the newfound silence. 

He fell backwards onto the bed and stretched out his limbs. It had been a while since he had been alone with his thoughts. It was a dangerous thing for him for his mind to roam… Normally he would have people around him, even if it were those of which he did not care for, or some kind of distraction. But now, it was just Mercury laying on the bed drunk and pondering. He thought back at what had went down moments earlier, of how much of a shit person he was, he had been, how Yang looked even more beautiful when she was livid than when she was flirty. He also wondered as to what action she would take. She had no proof of what he had done, and Cinder would make damn sure to throw him or someone under the bus in order to not get caught. So, he knew he shouldn’t worry but his brain wasn’t conveying that to his gut. 

…then again, that worry might just be the alcohol on a somewhat empty stomach. He hunted for the hotel water bottle he had been handed earlier, and chugged down the rest of the beverage. He laid on his stomach as he crawled around the bed to grab the TV remote. He turned it back to the classics channel from the other night and was pleasantly surprised to find a marathon of classic action flicks. Finding a distraction from these serious thoughts, he watched buildings explode and bullets flying until he sobered up enough for his body to want to relieve him of the contents of his stomach. All in the hotel bathtub. 

\---

Yang woke up with a headache. A part of it was from the alcohol and the talking to Qrow and she got from Tai. It took over half an hour for her father to calm down enough for Yang to say she was sorry for leaving her sister behind at a hospital. Qrow helped divvy the blame by saying he had been with her from the time she left to the time they arrived at the house. 

Getting up from her bed, Yang looked over at the clock on her nightstand. It was a little after 10 a.m. 

Perfect, she thought as she stumbled over to her closet. She had slept in last night’s clothes and needed to at least change her shirt. Didn’t want anyone seeing her in the same outfit as yesterday. Then again, who would really care considering all that had went down. 

Changing into an old P.E. t-shirt, she stumbled down the stairs to see no one in the living room or kitchen. She shuffled over to the fridge to grab something, anything, to eat. Finding some leftovers in the back of the fridge, Yang grabbed a mystery Tupperware and threw it in the microwave. As the food was being heated, she sleepily shuffled around the kitchen over to a note on the counter. It read in Ruby’s sloppy handwriting:

Hey Yang!  
Hope you slept well. Dad and Uncle Qrow drove me to the derby to watch the finals. They thought it would be best for you to sleep in. Also, Jaune called this morning and said that Pyrrha is doing ok but she also isn’t… He said he’d talk about it later. Pretty sure he was running on no sleep. Anyways, we will be home in the afternoon. Meet us at the rink if you are up for it.  
-Ruby

And then there were random doodles at the bottom of the page. A half-smile appeared on Yang’s face. Knowing at least her sister had a more innocent and positive look on things made her at least feel a little better about the trash fire that was burning. 

BEEP.

Yang opened up the microwave and peeked inside the Tupperware. “Huh… Chinese… meh.” Grabbing a fork, she picked at the sadly reheated chow mein and some kind of chicken that she couldn’t quite figure out exactly what it was. She shoveled down the food before walking over to the fridge and sneaking a beer. Drinking before noon was probably one of the least dumb decisions she had made in the past few days. 

She drank down half her can of beer before she remembered that she hadn’t checked her phone yet. Slowly climbing back up the stairs, Yang grabbed her phone and then marched right back down. She knew she wouldn’t be anything but lazy if she stayed in her room all day. 

The expected notifications appeared on the screen; Blake being freaked and worried, one from Weiss sprinkled in with her being pissed, her dad calling at least twenty times and of course leaving a message after every call, and then one notification that she was not expecting. An unknown number she recognized called and left a message as well as a text… Yang did her best to text her friends really quickly and let them know she was fine. Dad wasn’t a big deal since Qrow helped her ‘explain the truth’ to him last night when they got home super late and chip faced. The unknown number… well, she didn’t know if she even wanted to look at it. Yang was expecting some kind of “squeal and your dead” or some other threat. However she was pleasantly surprised to find not a death threat, but a single word she did not expect to see:

Sorry

Yang felt a twinge of guilt for what she was going to do… but that died as soon as she remembered exactly who she was feeling sorry for. Like he said, “she shouldn’t give a shit”. There was no feeling sorry for him. Nothing personal, she thought, just business and a little self-gratification. He fucked up. So she was ready to raise a little hell. But this time, it would be the good kind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope y'all liked it!
> 
> Your Floralist of Ninjas,  
> Reba The Mermaid


	9. The Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all enjoy!

It wasn’t a big shocker that the Haven Havocs decimated the Atlas All-Stars. Even with a natural born skater like Neon Katt on the favorable team, Cinder and her girls weren’t playing all that clean. That didn’t mean the All-Stars weren’t good sports about it. They never really skated to “win”. Adrenalin and the thrill were prize enough. However the Haven Havocs were taking home the trophy and a nice cash prize supplied by the Pumpkin Pete brand (and affiliates). 

While the skaters were celebrating, Mercury was in the hotel room’s bathtub. The bottle of vodka was long gone and he was pretty sure he had drunk texted some people. His head was pounding and he didn’t feeling like checking to make sure he didn’t text something that would bite him in the ass. Merc was pretty sure that if he got up he would vomit again. But water was not in the tub unless he was willing to get a drink from the tap… and risk possibly drowning himself. Wiggling up from the ceramic prison, he tumbled to the floor and struggled to stand up. Leaning on the sink counter, he pushed himself off over to the water bottle from last night. It was still mostly full since he hadn’t taken Yang’s advice wholeheartedly. 

Picking it up and chugging down the rest of the contents, Merc looked over to where his phone had been resting. It was surprisingly still on the side table. He was expecting it to be… under the bed? In the toilet? Let’s just say he had had to replace his phone a few times after being blackout drunk. Picking up the phone, he noticed how many notifications he had. It was a lot. 

“Guess I’m popular today…”

Most of them were missed calls from Pumpkin Head. There were actually around fifty of them… and half had voice mails. Pressing on the first of the many, Merc held the phone up to his ear.

“Hey kid,” the message began. “I know you are probably shitfaced, but Cindy wanted me to check up on you. When you hear this give me a call. I’ve got your cut of the winnings for ya and I don’t know how long I cannot spend it for you.” The message ended. Not wanting to listen to ALL of the messages, he skipped ahead to the most recent.

“PICK UP YOUR GODDAMN PHONE, RUNT! I’m skipping town ahead of you and the ladies. You brats didn’t tell me HE was in town! You’re on your own. Try not to do anything or anyone that will get you- ah shit. Just call me back!” The message ended right after a few seconds of crashing noises and muffled yelling. Raising an eyebrow, Mercury quick pressed the call back button. There was no ring. It went straight to voice mail.

Shit.

He looked at his other notifications. There was a text from Em saying that the girls, Cinder, and she were at some ‘family friendly’ place getting a free dinner for winning the stupid derby. She also told him to pack up and check out. She didn’t seem to have the confusing panic to her request like Roman had, but that didn’t mean Merc was going to take his time. He started throwing clothes into suitcases, mixing up his clothes with the girls’, and making sure nothing got left behind. As he was just about to call the front desk to come bring a luggage cart, there was a knock as the door. 

“Housekeeping,” the voice who was clearly not the sweet Hispanic woman who had been taking care of their room for the past few days called from the other side. Instead it was a deeper, raspier voice that was eerily familiar to Mercury. Picking up his unpacked tool kit, he grabbed one of his sharper screwdrivers and grasped it with white knuckles behind his back as he neared the door. He got up close to the peep hole and slowly moved the security lock, latching it. Turning the door handle, what he expected occurred; the person on the other side pushed hard against the door. However what he did not expect was that it was rammed against with such force that it practically knocked the door off its hinges. The security lock didn’t do shit as the door swung open. Mercury fell to the floor from the impact. His eyes grew wide as an overly familiar wafting smell of cheap beer and tequila graced his senses. 

“Ah fuck,” Mercury hissed under his breath. He attempted to stand, lunging forward with the screwdriver at the ready. But after a long night of drinking, adrenaline was only doing so much for his fight, flight, and freeze. His reaction time was slowed and the intruder quickly grabbed him by the arm and threw him right back down to the floor. 

“Mercury Black. You skipped your court date, kid,” bounty hunter Qrow Branwen said as he pulled a pair of zip ties out of his back pocket. “Worse yet, you pissed off my niece.”

“You’re what?!” Mercury’s mind was spinning from being thrown to the floor. His face was uncomfortably rubbing up against the sketchy hotel carpet. He could practically feel the drunk asshole smirking. 

“Oh yeah,” Qrow finished tying Merc’s wrists together. “And she gave me a message for ya.”

“That being?” Merc was lifted up off the floor and was ushered into the hall. 

“Sorry doesn’t cut it.”

With that, Mercury knew he definitely had been drunk texting. And it made him out to be an apologizing pussy… Good thing he couldn’t remember it. Then he wouldn’t feel this pissed off at a certain blonde bitch.

\--- 

Mercury’s one phone call was very hard to make. He wasn’t sure who to call… So, he called Cinder. She would be mad, but at least there was a chance she would be able to bail him out. Well, if she had actually been the one to pick up the phone. 

“Who is this?” Emerald yelled from the other end. 

“Em, give the phone to Cinder.”

“Ah hell, Mercury where are you calling from?”

“…holding.”

The line went dead. 

\---

Mercury, all things considered, was lucky. The court date he had bailed on was only for some petty shit. Six months in juvenile detention and a $1,000 fine was nothing compared to the heinous shit they could convict him for instead; shop lifting a laptop is one thing. Arson is another thing all together, and no one could prove he did it. No one still living anyways… 

Cinder and Em never got back to him, but he just assumed that they were laying low. Him being incarcerated and their affiliations had ‘nothing to do with them’. And he needed a ‘vacation’ anyways. As for Roman, he wasn’t one for prison breaks or bailouts. However, Mercury’s winnings from the betting pool did help out with the fine. 

The one person Mercury did not assume to contact him was the one who put him away in the first place. Indirectly, at least. On mail day, he found a letter addressed to him from a certain blonde. In the letter, it read:

Hey Mercury.  
How’s prison? I hope it’s not too boring. Sent you something to pass the time. You’re move, asshole.  
With love,  
Yang

Turning over the letter, there was a photo copy of a chess board. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Mercury laughed as he looked over the image. She was challenging him to a game of chess through the mail. What was she? Secretly an old man? 

Merc was given a pen and paper by one of the guards and began to write up his move. …after, of course, picking up a beginners guide on chess. He’d be damned if she beat him. And he had six months to one up her as much as he could before getting out. 

\---

It had been about a month since Mercury’s arrest. Yang had half expected for him not to reply. He already probably thought ill of her considering she was the one who put him away. However he was also the one who had injured her friend. Lucky for him, he was right about Pyrrha only needing PT and was slowly but surely recovering. 

She had got the chess idea from when Blake was back home to Menagerie for the summer last year. Blake and Weiss had an intense game of chess via mail. It was really nerdy, lame, and could have easily been done online. But this old school way was how Weiss used to play with her Grandpa before he passed away. Plus, Yang was pretty sure they wouldn’t let Mercury use a computer freely. 

Surprisingly, when she checked the mail this particular morning, she found a letter from Mr. Mercury Black. Grabbing the letter, and the rest of the mail, she rushed into the house. She threw the bills and coupons on the living room coffee table before taking her letter up to room to open in private.

Tearing the envelope, Yang speedily read the letter:

Hey Blondie,  
Pawn to e4.  
-Mercury   
P.S. Next time, I pick the game. 

Yang felt a smile creep upon her face. “That basic bitch. Pawn to e4? What is he? A novice?” Then it clicked and she laughed alone in her room like a crazy person. “I FINALLY WIN!” She quickly grabbed a piece of paper and began writing her reply. 

She didn’t know if she hated Mercury or if she liked him or whatever at this point. However, one thing Yang did know was that she liked competing against him. Win or lose, he was one hell of a player. If the game was RRD, online gaming, chess via mail, or even a game of tic-tac-toe or hangman, it didn’t matter. Yang was willing to play. And maybe next time they met face to face, there would be a grand prize for the over-all winner. 

And Yang played to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all have enjoyed this fanfic! It was fun to write and I hope it was enjoyable to read! This is the "official" final chapter. I will be posting up the bonus chapter, "Bonus Level" soon to complete the fic. Thank you all so much for reading and thank you for sticking with me! 
> 
> Your Floralist of Ninjas,  
> Reba The Mermaid


	10. Chapter 10

Mercury walked out of the Vale Correctional Facility with barely anything but the shirt on his back. He hadn’t went in with much; his wallet with a student ID as his only identification, $12 and a couple of a free medium one topping pizza that had long since expired. He was expecting maybe Roman or one of the “goons” Cinder kept around to be picking him up. However, instead, there was a familiar blonde on a motorcycle. She pulled down her sunglasses and tossed him her helmet, reminding him of their first “date”. 

Inside the helmet was a small folded piece of paper. Eyebrow raised, he unfolded the paper to reveal Yang’s final move. 

“Checkmate,” she smirked as she patted the back of her bike’s seat. “Hop on, loser. You’re buying me dinner.”

“I just got out of prison,” he pointed out as he slipped on the helmet and onto the back of the bike. 

“Well, work something out,” Yang spoke before revving up and speeding down the road.

\---

Yang went on the cheap and took Mercury to a Chinese buffet. Of course, it was the Americanized crap like every Chinese buffet. Merc had pepperoni pizza and “pot stickers” on the same plate. But it got them full and saved Yang $5 off with a couple she had in her wallet. 

They felt the restaurant and headed to a very dangerous place for the two of them together to be; Yang’s house. She pulled into the completely empty driveway. When she opened the door, there was no one home. And when she started walking up the stairs to her room, she told Mercury to follow her.

She opened up the door to her room, revealing a setup of soda and beer six-packs and a fighting game cued up on the TV. “So, my dad took my sister camping,” Yang started as she sat on her bed, picking up one of the controllers. “And he thinks that I’m at my friend’s house teaching her how to changer her car’s tires.”

“So we’re all alone?” Mercury sat next to her a little too closely, grabbing the other controller. 

“Yep.”

“With beer, violent video games, and sitting on a bed?”

“Pretty much.” 

“Well, then. Looks like the night could go in any possible direction…” He grabbed a beer while handing Yang a soda. “I’ll give you a handicap. The more buzzed I get, the better you’ll play.” 

Yang punched him playfully in the arm. “Just shut up and let me kick your ass.”

“Whatever you say, blondie.”

They turned their attention to the TV. The main menu flashed on the screen.

START.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally. I have successfully finished a multi-chapter fanfic. Hope y'all enjoyed and thank you so much for sticking around and reading up to this point. 
> 
> Your Floralist of Ninjas,  
> Reba The Mermaid


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